


The Wave Crests

by smug_rabbit



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-10 09:24:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12909030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smug_rabbit/pseuds/smug_rabbit
Summary: A trip to celebrate the Phantom Thieves' latest success at the Kingdom of Dreams was a reminder for Ren that his glorified after-school club were his friends first and foremost. He wondered if they still thought the same of him. Contains spoilers until 11 October.





	1. No Limit, Phantom Thieves

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers up to 11 October.

Ren hadn’t even noticed he was holding his phone, but the red and black theme of the Phan-site was staring back at him. No sooner had he switched it off and put it in his pocket, it buzzed. Probably another message from one of his friends asking to confirm the meetup time for their Destinyland party. As tempting as it was to pull the phone back out, he was still stuck in Leblanc and behind his own schedule, something which hadn’t happened in a long time for the disciplined Joker.

‘What would you do if you were Phantom Thieves?’ the prim reporter on the TV asked the audience, a gaggle of school kids. Ren’s hand hovered over the remote. Alright, he could watch a few minutes of children spouting banal fantasies before Morgana nagged him to the train station.

‘I’d make the rich people give away their money to the government to build better schools.’ The boy couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Ren laughed. Politically-aware parents, no doubt.

Next was a teenage girl. ‘I’d buy a TV channel and make it only show Terrace Hut every day!’ Shallow, but that sentiment wasn’t unheard of amongst his classmates.

Last was a boy about Ren’s age with half of his head shaved. Silken black hair spouted out of the other half, obscuring one drooping eye. ‘I’d get all of Japan’s scientists to build a shuttle and travel to other planets so Japan could get them before the Russians or Americans.’ A gasp of surprise left the reporter’s mouth. ‘But what if they want to chase their own dreams? Some scientists would rather make advances in medicine, or study animals.’

The boy’s face darkened. ‘Who cares about that? There are better thin-’

Ren forced himself to laugh and shut off the TV before the kid could say anymore. He pulled his phone back out and opened the group chat. To his annoyance, Yusuke had beaten him to it.

‘NHK is running a special on us,’ Yusuke had written.

Irritated, he refreshed the Phan-site for comfort, but Mishima’s survey was the same as ever. According to Mishima, site traffic had decreased in the last week. Ren wondered if he was the only one slightly relieved that there wasn’t pressure to do another heist so soon.

Finally slipping the phone back into his pocket, he bade Sojiro good night, and headed outside for Destinyland. The phone buzzed again, and this time, Ren didn’t bother checking it.

 

* * *

 

‘It’s free.’

Ryuji winced at Ren’s disapproval, but he pulled out a mouse-ear headband out of the basket he’d just swiped from an empty dining table. He held out the basket, which contained more headbands themed on various animal ears. ‘You take some, then.’

‘Pass.’

Ryuji held them out to the girls, but they weren’t paying attention to him. They were too busy watching Ann spin Haru around the courtyard of an empty Tokyo Disneyland. Of course they’d be grateful to her. Haru’s money shut down the biggest theme park in Japan for her exclusive use. Makoto wouldn’t have been able to do that in a hundred years, even if she managed to eventually work her way up to be Tokyo’s highest-ranked cop.

Ren didn’t have a whole lot to be jealous of. He was the most powerful Persona user in his group, his grades were high enough to erase his delinquent rep, and his friends were supportive. But he couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of Haru, as Ann rained pecks on her blushing cheeks.

‘Aw, Haru! You’re the best!’ Ann giggled and ruffled her hair. ‘I thought you were joking when you said the whole place belonged to us for tonight. Oh God, I love you, I love you so much!’ She peppered Haru’s face with more kisses.

‘Watch out.’

Ryuji managed to tear his eyes away from Haru and Ann long enough to avoid walking into the dining chair protruding from the table. He shoved it away from him with more violence than necessary. ‘If I die during our next heist, you bet your ass I’m getting reincarnated as a rich girl.’ Ryuji spread his arms wide and twirled around like a princess belonging to one of Destinyland’s dozens of IPs. ‘Not just for getting hugs from Ann. I mean, this is the sorta shit I wanna get up to.’ He began firing at the various rides with finger guns. ‘Travel around, book out all the amusement parks, bring my squad over to ‘em and mess around on the rides. Paid for by eff-you money.’ He squinted and curled his lips in a passable imitation of a bousouzoku member. ‘Believe me, I got connects. Nowadays, rich boys don’t need shovels to bury you.’

Makoto shot him a disapproving glare, ever the eavesdropping school captain in the off-hours. She was quite far away from them, too. ‘Don’t get carried away,’ she warned, as Morgana murmured an: ‘I’m actually embarrassed to know Ryuji,’ from inside Ren’s bag.

‘Aww, let me pretend for a night, why don’t ya? Who says the Phantom Thieves can’t enjoy life? The un-fucking-stoppable Phantom Thieves, mind you, live from Destinyland!’ Ryuji dragged out the last word, letting it echo off the metal of the rides and the decorated pebble paths, his boast dissipating amongst the night air.

Yusuke sighed. ‘Lucky nobody’s around to hear us.’

Futaba, on the other hand, was more jovial. ‘Let him LARP for a bit. We all deserve this.’

Even Yusuke couldn’t object to that. Okumura’s Palace was brutal compared to the others they’d raided so far. During a test at school earlier in the week, Ren noted his hands involuntarily trembled, wrapped around a knife that was actually a pen, his eyes darting across the essay prompts, watching for the moves of Shadows that had long been dispatched, as he tried to scribble out an essay on Russian art that he hadn’t had enough time to research for. And in P.E. class, he caught himself holding his breath as if he was still bouncing between the rooms in Okumura’s space station.

Ryuji placed the basket of headbands back onto the table, wolf-whistling the girls. ‘I wish I was Haru right now, man.’

‘I wish I was Haru all the time. If I had that money…’ Ren sighed, watching his breath disappear into the autumn night.

‘Cars and a private jet?’

Ren smirked. ‘You think too small. Try a football team.’

‘You serious?’ Ryuji’s wide eyes blinked a few times as Ren felt his stomach churn. ‘I thought you’d be talking about buying the best shit off Iwai, and putting Takemi’s products on a mass-production line.’

Ren quashed the irritation building in his chest. ‘Yeah. That too.’

‘Shit, why doesn’t Haru fund us now? We have all that cash, might as well spend it on equi-’

‘Ryuji, stop.’

‘Huh?’

Ren’s eyes fell back on Ann and Haru. He jerked his head towards the girls still frolicking around Destinyland’s plaza. ‘Just watch.’

A few seconds of staring was all it took for the other boy to be re-immersed in the sight of Haru and Ann. Panther had gotten her hands under Haru’s armpits, tickling her relentlessly. Ever the subtle sleaze, Ryuji winked at Ren. He dug his elbow into Joker’s ribs. ‘Hey…’

Relieved, Ren flicked Ryuji between the eyes, hoping his Adam’s apple didn’t bob too much as he supressed the bile crawling up his throat. Shuujin, Ikebukuro, Hawaii, and even here, the Phantom Thieves could only ever talk about themselves these days. That extended to even Destinyland, billed as the friendliest place on Earth. Ren was determined to enjoy himself, to admire the pretty Western cartoon-themed rides and merch like every teenager the world over. And maybe enjoy the sight of two girls frolicking out the corner of his eye while he was at it.

Haru freed herself from Ann, and ran over to the rest of the group. She was saying something which Ren couldn't quite catch.

‘Sorry. Repeat that please?’

Haru gave him a withering glare, but obliged anyway. ‘I said that dinner will be ready in an hour. You should listen more, Ren. This tendency to drift off is a bad habit of yours. Imagine if it happened in a Palace.’ Ren resisted the urge to roll his eyes. What was wrong with everyone? He made a show of cringing and apologising before she suggested, ‘How about we explore Destinyland while we have time?’

They spent the next half-an-hour walking through the castles, riding the miniature trains ripped straight from Antebellum America, steering go-karts down a mountain tethered to a rail. On Yusuke’s request, they avoided the more strenuous rides. The whole time, Ren didn’t say much, opting to observe his friends have the time of their lives, whooping and cheering on the rides. Especially Haru, who was carefree as if her father hadn't been shut away for the past week and whose mental state was uncertain as a result of their activities. Dread nagged him. Okumura was to make his announcement live on TV tonight, apologising and grovelling for the sins he would lay bare by his own hand. If something went wrong, if Okumura Senior's forced change of heart went wrong, how could they ever face Haru again? Assuming they could get him to redeem himself and annul Haru's engagement, would he even be stable enough to run the company? Would a change of heart necessarily mean he'd have more time for Haru? The questions bounced around his head, even throughout the rides.

If anyone was disturbed by his silence, they didn’t mention it. He wondered if they’d gotten used to his brooding as well. Soon enough, they’d ridden on all their favourites.

‘We got ten minutes left.’ Ryuji sighed at his watch, as if it was the watch's fault they'd run out of time. ‘Time for one more, I reckon. Star Mountain, anyone? It’s a pretty neat rollercoaster from what I’ve heard.’

Ann was the first to drop out. ‘A bit extreme for me. I’ll pass.’

'I choose the Ferris wheel,' Haru pointed at the wheel, its giant frame glimmering in neon lights above their heads, each coloured bulb twinkling as if it was part of the night tapestry.

Ryuji turned to Joker. ‘Boss?’

Ren took seconds to decide. ‘Ferris wheel as well.’ Ann and Morgana gasped and glanced between Ren and Haru, the latter of whom looked unruffled. Ryuji's jaw dropped.

‘Uh..okay. T-that slow thing?’

‘Yeah. I’ve had enough adrenaline rushes for the past month, thank you very much.’  _It's not what you think,_  he quietly pleaded.

‘Fair. But you can’t ride the Star Mountain once you’ve had dinner. You’ll puke everywhere, you know.’ Ryuji tapped his temple with his index finger and dashed off. Ren swore Ryuji's cheeks had turned redder.

Yusuke was next. Even he could read the air, a skill he'd developed over the last month. ‘No more rides for me, thank you. If you don’t mind, I’ll be off to sketch the gardens here. They are quite are exquisitely curated.’ He hefted his bag strap onto his shoulder and waved them off.

‘I liked driving the go-karts down the mini motorway,’ Makoto said to Yusuke’s disappearing back, her face similarly red as Ryuji's. ‘I think I’ll try that again.’ To everybody’s surprise, so did Morgana. ‘I’ve been on enough Ferris wheels with Joker,’ he complained. ‘No offence, but it’s kinda boring after a while.’

Makoto relieved Ren of his bag, Morgana with it.

‘What about you, Futaba?’

But she’d already slipped away when nobody was looking, leaving Ann, Haru, and Ren behind.

‘See you in a few minutes,’ Morgana called out to the remaining stragglers, as he sped off in Makoto’s wake. They vanished out of sight, consumed by the darkness where the neon lights wouldn’t touch. Ren peered into the darkness. To his surprise, some of the streetlamps that should have illuminated the whole street weren't working. Evidently, management needed to change the lightbulbs. He felt a strange horror at the idea that Destinyland would bill Haru for the damage.

Haru was rich. She could handle it. And if Destinyland management decided to charge her for damages, he could change their hearts, no problem.

No sooner had he dreamt up the idea, he cursed himself, something that was happening more often recently.

‘Ferris wheel it is.’ Ann said, interrupting his thoughts. She tilted her head to pluck her hair ties out, letting her golden hair cascade around her shoulders. ‘Y’know, I could do with a change of pace.’ She nudged Ren in his bruised ribs. ‘You gonna stare off into space forever, Ren?’

‘Sorry.’

They sauntered off in silence, the grinding of the wheel's metal gears cutting through the still night air.

 


	2. I Was Innocent, Then

It amazed Ren how different Tokyo looked at night. The artificial lights encased the city in a rainbow glow, making once-familiar buildings seem taller and larger. From his perch from inside the Ferris wheel, away from the throngs of adults and their noise, Tokyo was the most beautiful city in the world. It was a different sensation for Ren, who’d only seen the city from this height in the daytime.

Haru and Ann had joined him in staring out the window in awe. They’d been through so much, a moment of peace and quiet was something they only realised they treasured once they’d sat inside the wheel. No bickering between Ryuji and Morgana, no periodic lectures on the importance of homework by Makoto, just beautiful silence.

Which was broken by a lo-fi pop song as their compartment reached its apex. It was Ann’s phone; nobody else would set Rise Kujikawa as their notification tone. She fished it out of her pocket and began scrolling through. Ren knew what it was before she said anything.

‘Okumura-san’s news conference is gonna start soon.’ She smiled at Ren’s quizzical eyebrow, misunderstanding why it was up. ‘I put news related to him on notification, so if anything comes up…’ She wiggled the phone. ‘I wonder how it’ll go down,’ Ann snickered. To Ren’s surprise, so did Haru. ‘What do you think, Joker?’

‘Don’t call me that here.’

‘Sorry,’ Ann said, not sounding sorry at all. ‘But haven’t you ever daydreamed about it?’

His headache was returning, every beat of blood in his head burning as if someone had drilled a hole in his head and was pouring lava directly into his skull. ‘Let’s not talk about the Phantom Thieves for tonight.’

Ann scowled. ‘Why not? What’s wrong with that?’

‘You wanna know what’s wrong? It’s because this,’ he jabbed a finger at Ann’s phone. ‘This is all we think about.’

All the frustration spilled out of him. Once he began ranting, he couldn’t stop.

‘I don’t want to be checking the clock constantly, hoping that there’s enough time left in the day to explore Tokyo, visit friends, do homework, and raid Mementos or whatever. I want to talk with my best friends about something other than Phantom Thieves. We got some of that free time to ourselves now, so let’s not think too hard about it, yeah? If we’re friends, then we ought to start acting like it.’

Ann blanched as Haru attempted to defuse the situation. ‘I’m fairly new, but I suppose the tasks of leadership are a burden. Maybe we should leave more of the planning to Makoto if it’s too much stress for you.’ If Haru hadn’t looked so sheepish, her words would have sounded sarcastic. Ren wished that she was, so she wouldn’t wear that guilty look. Her father was about to humiliate himself on live TV. If anything, she should be at Okumura Senior’s side instead of cavorting with the people who’d reduced him to…hell, Ren hadn’t the faintest idea of what happened to the people he’d induced mental shut downs in.

‘It’s not just the planning.’ Now that he’d spilled his guts, he wondered why he bothered. Nobody had mentioned the black-clad Persona-user that Shadow Kaneshiro saw in weeks, but they found time to chatter about the near-death scrapes inside Palaces as if they were part of any other after-school club activity. Meanwhile, the possibility of a rogue Persona-user nagged away at Ren’s mind, uncertainty eating into his daydreams at school and before he fell asleep with Morgana’s formerly-comforting weight atop him. ‘I don’t get how you’re all so easy-going about this,’ he said.

Ren pushed himself off the hard bench and paced around the tiny floor of the Ferris wheel compartment. He noticed their compartment had passed its apex and was sliding down. He stared out the window, watching the illuminated canopy of Tokyo’s concrete jungle splayed out before him.

‘We’re the most powerful people in the world right now,’ he said to the rooftops beneath him, growling larger in his vision. ‘We could take down anybody. Why don’t we?’

‘Ren…’

‘I bet the CEO of Destiny Corporation has a Palace. We could induce a mental shut down, force Destiny to merge with Okumura Foods, and build the biggest conglomerate in the world. I’ll take a cut of the money to buy a football team in England. I’ll win every cup, because I can change the hearts of opposition managers to mess up their tactics. Hell, England’s too small for us. Why not win the World Cup for Japan? And not just in soccer. Any sport you could name.’

‘Then I’ll move into politics, get a cushy Cabinet spot, have the Prime Minister abdicate for me. I’ll join the ranks of shitty adults, now as their great leader. Nobody’s gonna tell me otherwise.’

Ann and Haru were staring at him, dumbfounded. He didn’t care. ‘I hate thinking about this, you know. I hate that the Phantom Thieves have taken over my life, because all I can think about is new ways to use our power and I get to thinking stupid things like how I’m gonna rule the world. So please, for one night, let me pretend that we’re ordinary people.’

Joker felt someone grab his arm. He halted in place.

‘Ren, listen to yourself.’ Ann was slumped against the glass before, but she’d managed to stand up to meet him, her fingers wrapped around his wrist. ‘You’re talking like we’re the strongest people to ever exist when there’s so much we don’t know about our powers.’

‘Let’s not tempt fate. Going into politics, manipulating billion-dollar sports industries…that’s not the sort of thing we’d do. I love the Thieves, but we’re friends before we’re teammates. I’d never do anything to change the way things are now. I don’t want to destroy what we have. So please, don’t overthink the Phantom Thieves.’ Her pale hair flashed pink and purple and blue under the flashing lights. Ren wanted to laugh.

‘How could I not think about this? Teachers and artists is all we can do? We even took down a CEO, a world-class computer hacker, a mob boss. For what? To keep ourselves in school, the same reason why we shut down Kamoshida. We can change the world, and we’re resolving petty grudges with losers. You could use our power to get yourself on the front of every magazine, Ann. And Haru, I just gave you an idea to expand Okumura Foods.’

Haru stood up. Her eyes were blazing as she marched up to Ren and slapped him across the face. Ren blinked at that. He’d never seen something so violent from her, at least towards other humans.

‘If not for your interference, I would be alone in my room at this moment, waiting for Sugimura to hollow out my soul. You’ve given me a chance to live my own life. Don’t tell me you did it because you were training to become the dictator of Japan. I am a Phantom Thief because I was a victim of the petty evil that thrives in this filthy society that nobody else can reform. That is my only reason for being here, and I hope it is the same for everyone else too.’

Ann was the first to recover her voice. ‘Yeah. Exactly what she said.’ She slipped her phone back into her jacket. ‘I know you’ve been on edge lately considering how long Okumura-san’s Palace was, but relax. Trust us, okay? We’re doing this for the right reasons.’

Ren barely comprehended her words. He prodded his stinging cheeks.

Haru’s voice softened upon seeing his distress. ‘Thank you, Ren.’

‘H-huh?’

‘For trusting us enough to tell us your fears. I have no doubt that as long as our leader recognises the potential dangers of our powers, he will stay humble.’ She offered a wan smile. ‘And if he ever should fall, we are here to catch him. I hope you’d consider doing the same if one of us went rogue.’

‘We’ll take a break tonight.’ Ann held out a fist for him to bump. ‘No more Phantom Thief talk.’

Ren tried to quash his bubbling fear, bumping knuckles with Ann. They were right, he tried to reassure himself. He was a bit on edge. At least he had his friends. No matter what happened next, they’d always be there by his side. Now that he’d spoken his mind, he felt bad for doubting his friends. It was ridiculous, the idea that he’d ever be let astray while his friends were around.

‘You’re right. Both of you.’ A comforting rush surged through him, fuelling a small smile to match Haru’s. ‘Sorry to worry you. And thanks.’

Ren sagged back into his seat. The other two watched him for a moment. Satisfied, Haru returned her attention back out the window. He wracked his brain for something normal to discuss, but these days, conversations petered out into nothing or back to the Phantom Thieves.

Before he could come up with a suitable question, the gondola’s door slid open with a ding. Desperate to escape the awkwardness, Ren was the first to step outside, bounding towards the main pavilion where dinner was waiting. He glanced behind him to see Haru leaning over Ann’s shoulder. One glimpse of the familiar red and black theme on Ann’s phone told Ren all he needed to know.

The freezing dread returned, washing away Haru’s previous comforting words. She caught him staring, and he knew she could read a thousand words in his face. Her eyes darted away. As they continued walking, Ren could sense that Ann and Haru were careful to maintain distance. He heard them whispering, or it could’ve been the wind. Ren was too tired to bother checking.

Ren forced his gaze away from his feet, back at the pink plasterboard castles and the shop signboards promising friendship packaged inside cheap pink plastic. The main plaza came back into view. He couldn’t make out who was in the plaza; the lights had been turned back on and the glare was too bright, blurring the figures in the plaza waiting for the stragglers. Ann and Haru skirted past Ren. ‘Food’s ready!’ Haru called out to disembodied cheers.

He tried recalling Makoto and her carefully-done braids. Yusuke and his delicate painters’ fingers. The individual traits that made up each of his friends. Joker stared back at the courtyard where his friends should have been, but skin-tight leather and masks were all he could see.

 


End file.
